Sara Gdulin Krout

First Navy Woman Dentist from Latvia

Amazingly, the first woman dentist in the Navy was not from America. Sara G. Krout survived World War I and the Russian Revolution and studied dentistry in the Ukraine and Latvia before moving to Chicago.

After attending the University of Illinois College of Dentistry, she obtained a dental license in 1924 and opened a private practice in Chicago. Krout married, had a daughter, and juggled work and parenting with her husband, a psychologist.

Where There’s a Will

Krout circumvented the military’s restriction on women dentists by joining the U.S. Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) as a lieutenant. WAVES received identical rank and pay as male personnel.

She was on active duty as a dentist at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station from 1944 to 1946. Krout continued in the Naval Reserve until retiring as a commander in 1961.

After the war, Krout started a practice in Evanston, Illinois. She served on the staff of the Women and Children’s Hospital of Chicago and was a member of the Association of Military Surgeons.